Laura Andreson California Art Pottery Rare, Early American Ceramic Vase, 1935

View Similar Items

Early 20th Century Weller Pottery Ceramic Umbrella Stand

Large Art Deco Ceramic Vase

Knabstrup Ceramic Moon Frog Bud Vase Vintage Mid-Century Modern Studio Pottery

Pottery Vase by Harsa Studio, Israel

Vintage California Original Ceramic Pottery Ashtray

Pottery Vase with Brass and Copper Inlay by Amali

Large Blue Pottery Vase with Brass and Copper Inlay

Rare Lucite Vase by Charles Hollis Jones

1950s Roger Corsaw Stoneware Vase Mid-0Century Studio Pottery

Ceramic Vase of Christ by Losson Belgium

Ettore Sottsass Pink Ceramic Shiva Flower Vase

1930s Ozark Swirl Pottery Early Touring Souvenir Cactus Bowl Dish Roadside Gift

1 of 7

Laura Andreson California Art Pottery Rare, Early American Ceramic Vase, 1935

About the Item

LAURA ANDRESON (1902-1999) USA Vase 1935 Hand-thrown and incised earthenware with goldenrod yellow, viscous glaze with rich craquelure surface Signed: Laura Andreson (on base), 1935 For more information see: The Potter’s Art in California: 1885-1955, Hazel V. Bray (Oakland: Oakland Museum Art Department, 1980) pp. 56-57; American Ceramics, 1876 to the Present, Garth Clark (New York: Abbeville Press Inc., 1987) pp. 91, 251; American Ceramics: The Collection of Everson Museum of Art, ed. Barabara Perry (New York: Rizzoli International Publications, Inc., 1989), pp. 127, 208 Laura Andreson (1902-1999) was known as the creator of elegant pots decorated with an astonishing array of glazes, Andreson was a fixture of the Southern California art scene for several decades and a prominent figure in international ceramics circles. She is credited with pioneering research and influential experimentation with various clays and glazes, as well as with teaching about 5,000 students. "Laura was certainly the doyenne of ceramics in California in the 1940s and '50s," said ceramics historian Elaine Levin, who has written extensively on the history and evolution of American ceramics. Andreson was also a memorable personality--"a grand lady" whose enormous energy far surpassed her diminutive physical stature, Levin said. But when Andreson was praised for her achievements--as she often was in her later years--she tended to portray herself as a happy victim of an artistic malady. "Ceramics is a disease, and I've given it to so many students," she said in a Times interview in 1982. "It teaches you great patience, but it's just a passion you get in your blood. Once you've got it, you don't want to do anything else." Born in San Bernardino in 1902, Andreson credited her interest in natural forms to her childhood experience with California's wilderness. She graduated summa cum laude from UCLA in 1932 and began teaching art courses at the university in 1933. Never imagining that clay would become her signature medium, she soon added a course in ceramics to her teaching load. With little experience and very limited equipment, she taught herself to make pots from cast and hand-built forms. Andreson continued her formal education at Columbia University, earning a master's degree in painting in 1937. But after her return to UCLA it was ceramics--not painting--that captivated her. Although handmade pottery had died out after the Industrial Revolution, she found it to be fertile territory for exploration and experimentation. Delighted to learn along with her students, she made the most of the low-fire earthenware clays that were available. Initially using bright glazes, she soon began working with matte glazes that emulated high-fire stoneware and offered more possibilities for artistic expression. Her work was transformed in 1944, when she learned to use a potter's wheel. She took her first lessons from Gertrud Natzler, who had emigrated from Vienna to Los Angeles with her husband and artistic partner, Otto Natzler. Andreson also picked up useful tips from UCLA students whom she dispatched to Mills College in Oakland to learn pottery throwing techniques from Carlton Ball. Andreson objected to conventional distinctions between fine and applied arts, so she was thrilled that clay and other traditional crafts media "went wild," as she put it, after World War II, when the GI bill funded the college education of an adventurous new generation of artists.

Creator:
Laura Andreson (Maker)
Dimensions:
Height: 9.25 in (23.5 cm)Diameter: 10 in (25.4 cm)
Style:
Art Deco (Of the Period)
Place of Origin:
United States
Period:
1930-1939
Date of Manufacture:
1935
Condition:
Seller Location:
New York, NY
Reference Number:
1stDibs: 1312039977325